Tool, system and method for mixed-reality awareness educational environments

Abstract

The present invention incorporates the use of analytics into classrooms that are equipped with education technologies, including, without limitation MED systems and ITSs, to enable human teachers to amplify their abilities and to leverage the complementary strengths of both the human teachers and the educational technologies. The present invention encompasses an educational tool system having at least one student and at least one teacher in a personalized learning environment, which includes a passive feedback system that gathers data on the student(s) and converts that data to analytics. This embodiment of the present invention also includes a real-time, wearable cognitive augmentation device that displays the analytics. This device is worn by the teacher and enables the teacher to view the data and / or analytics while engaging with the students and / or class.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Applications Ser. Nos. 62 / 780,817, filed Dec. 17, 2018, and 62 / 780,823, filed Dec. 17, 2018, which applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH[0002]This invention was made with government support under National Science Foundation award number 1530726 and Institute of Education Sciences grant number R305B150008. The government has certain rights in this invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]When used in K-12 classrooms, intelligent tutoring systems (“ITSs”) can be highly effective in helping students to learn. However, they are even more effective if designed to work together with human teachers, to amplify their abilities and leverage their complementary strengths. Intelligent tutoring systems are a class of advanced learning technologies that provide students with step-by-step guidance during complex learning ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a system that uses a wearable device to collect data on a teacher's students in real-time during a computer-based learning experience. This data is then presented to the teacher in a way that helps them understand and make decisions about the students more easily and quickly. Overall, this system helps teachers to be more effective and engaged with their students.

Problems solved by technology

Supporting teachers in orchestrating complex, but effective, technology-enhanced learning has been recognized as a critical research and design challenge for the learning sciences.

Yet there is a paucity of empirical evidence that a teacher's use of real-time awareness tools (e.g., dashboards) can improve student learning, and scientific knowledge about the effects such tools have on teaching and learning is scarce.

Yet such personalized classrooms also pose unique challenges for teachers, who are tasked with monitoring students and classes working on divergent activities, and prioritizing help-giving in the face of limited time.

However, the design of effective support tools for teachers working in these contexts remains a largely open, challenging problem.

While these “teacher smart glasses” would have many of the same advantages as ambient and distributed classroom awareness tools for teachers that are currently available, they would not reveal sensitive student data for the whole class to see—a risk that several teachers referred to as a “deal-breaker” for use in middle school classrooms.

However, they also present teachers with unique challenges, as teachers are tasked with monitoring classrooms that are likely working on a broad range of divergent educational activities at any given time.

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